Church of St Mary & St Nicholas, Leatherhead Facts for Kids

St Mary & St Nicholas, Leatherhead
The church seen from the north.
St Mary & St Nicholas, Leatherhead Location in Surrey
51°17′33″N 0°19′37″W / 51.29263°N 0.32686°W / 51.29263; -0.32686
Denomination	Church of England
Churchmanship	Broad Church
Website	leatherheadparish.com
History
Dedication	Saint Mary and Saint Nicholas
Administration
Parish	Leatherhead
Deanery	Leatherhead
Archdeaconry	Dorking
Diocese	Guildford
Province	Canterbury

The Church of St Mary & St Nicholas is an Anglican church in Leatherhead, Surrey, England. It has been a place of worship for a very long time, since around the 11th century. Today, it is a special building with a Grade II* listed status, meaning it's very important for its history and architecture.

What the Church Looks Like
Music at the Church
Special Memorials
Photo gallery
See also

What the Church Looks Like

Most of the church building was built in the early 1200s. The main part, called the nave (where people sit), was built around 1210. Its arches are like a style popular in France back then.

The tall tower was added much later, in the late 1400s. You can tell it's different because of its big supports called buttresses. It also has special windows and carvings above the West Door. Many parts of the church were fixed up in the 1800s by Arthur Blomfield. Before that, some walls were covered in plaster in the 1600s.

Inside, you can see two beautiful paintings called frescoes on either side of the main arch. They show the Annunciation, a famous Bible story. The colorful stained glass windows in the church were put in during the mid-1800s.

Music at the Church

St. Mary & St. Nicholas has a special pipe organ that has been rebuilt. It uses some parts from an older organ built in the 1700s by Thomas Parker. This original organ was moved to Leatherhead in 1846 from a church in Watford.

In 1872, the organ was moved again and made bigger by a company called J. W. Walker. It was fixed up a couple of times after that. However, by 1983, it was too old to be used. An electronic organ was put in its place.

Sadly, an electrical problem with the electronic organ caused a fire. The fire damaged the electronic organ and also the old pipe organ. The old pipe organ was taken apart, and workers found some of the original 1700s parts, including the keyboards! Some usable parts from the 1800s were sold to Norway.

In 2006, a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund helped rebuild the 1700s pipe organ. A company called Goetze & Gwynn carefully put it back together. The "new" old organ was installed in 2007. It is now used regularly for church services and concerts.

Special Memorials

Inside the church, there is a memorial for Admiral Sir James Wishart, who passed away in 1723. His brother, William Wishart, put it there. The memorial tells about his life and even has small models of ships.

The famous author Anthony Hope, who wrote the adventure story The Prisoner of Zenda, is buried in the churchyard.